


The balcony

by RiTheBiGuy_RileyTMR



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-30
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:55:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23919319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiTheBiGuy_RileyTMR/pseuds/RiTheBiGuy_RileyTMR
Summary: Whenever Claire has had a rough day she can usually be found on the balcony at St Bonaventure hospital. That's where Neil found her after a particularly rough case.
Relationships: Claire Browne/Neil Melendez
Comments: 13
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

Whenever Claire has had a rough day she can usually be found on the balcony at St Bonaventure hospital. That's where Neil found her after a particularly rough case. 

They had a 15 year old kid come into the hospital after his parents found him unconscious in his bedroom. They couldn't figure out what was wrong with him until Claire found a note that had fallen out of his pocket. It turns out the kid had taken a bunch of pills in a suicide attempt. They had managed to stabilise him but his liver had been damaged and soon he was fighting for his life in the OR. They'd tried all they could but the damage was too severe and he lost his battle, which is what bought Claire to the balcony at 2am.

Neil stood next to her with his arms on the railing. After a couple of minutes of silence she looked over at him and he could see that she had been crying.

"There wasn't much more we could have done for him," Neil said.

"I know," Claire replied, "he was just so young, he had his whole life ahead of him, when he was awake he told me that he wanted to be a chef that he loved to cook," she sighed, looking out over the city "but then he started to get bullied at school, he had no friends, no one he could turn to. I told him that those people meant nothing and that he was stronger than they were and after we spoke for a bit he told me that I'd changed his life and that once he was out of the hospital he was going to transfer schools and focus on his dreams," she choked back tears, "I guess it doesn't matter now," she let the tears fall down her face freely now, knowing she couldn't hold them back if she tried.

"It did matter Claire, you made it so that in his final moments he felt like he had someone who cared about him, which is more than he felt when he came into the hospital," Neil said. Claire wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I'm just very emotional today," she said.

"It's understandable Claire, it's been a tough case, you're allowed to feel emotions," Neil replied.

"It's not just that," she said, "today would have been my mom's birthday. I know I wasn't close to her but I did love her and today was hard enough but having this case, it's just really gotten to me," she sobbed after this revelation and was suprised when she felt two strong arms around her. After a little while she leaned her head on Neil's chest and hugged him back as she sobbed.

"I know it's hard Claire and that it hurts, but you'll get through this just like you have with everything that life has thrown at you, because you are one of the strongest people I know," he said to her. Claire pulled back at bit and smiled up at him.

"Thank you," she said. Neil pulled one of his arms back, still holding Claire with the other, and brushed one of her brown curls out of her face. Claire stared into his eyes, which looked beautiful in the moonlight, before leaning forward and pressing her lips against his. He was slightly suprised at first by the kiss but soon found himself kissing her back. They knew this was going to happen eventually, they had both been dancing around their feelings for each other for a long while, they also knew it would make their jobs complicated but in that moment they didn't care. In that moment it was just them, it was just Neil and Claire, and that was all that mattered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Claire’s turn to cheer Neil up when she finds him on the balcony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I’ve been reading through some of my fics and found this one which I had forgotten about, so I’ve decided to add another chapter.

Neil has been snappy with everyone all day, Claire could tell something was really wrong when he yelled at Morgan over something that wasn’t really her fault, he then took his anger out on the door to his office, slamming it so hard that the residents all thought it might break, he then did the same to the door to the balcony. The residents all stood there in shock, they’d seen Melendez angry before but never like this. None of them knew what to do, they were considering getting Dr Lim to talk to him to see if he was alright when they saw Claire stand up and head towards his office, Morgan was going to stop her when Alex whispered to her.

“If anyone can cheer him up it’s Claire,” Morgan nodded, all of them were aware of the secret romance going on between the two even if they didn’t admit it.

Claire stepped out the door and onto the balcony, walking over to where Melendez was standing and leaning on the railing next to him. They stood in silence for a few minutes before Claire spoke up.

“Want to tell me what that was about?” She asked.

“What?” Neil snapped back.

“You’ve been moody all day and just shouted at Morgan for no reason!” Claire responded, “and let’s not forget slamming the doors hard enough to break them,” Neil looked over to her, an angry look on his face, ready for an argument, when he saw the concern in her eyes. His face softened and he let out a sigh, turning back to look out over the city.

“I got a call from Gabi’s carer’s earlier, a member of staff there had been stealing from the patients, he went on the run last night with thousands of pounds worth of possessions, one of which was a very expensive bracelet that my parents had got her for her 18th, it was engraved and everything and she loved it, the police are looking for this man but chances are it’s already been sold at some pawn shop,” Neil admitted, clenching his fist in anger. Claire put a hand over his before leaning into his side.

“That’s awful Neil,” she said, “do you have a photo of it? We can start looking online to see if we can find it and hopefully we can get it back for her,” Neil moved his hand out from under Claire’s hand and instead put his arm around her.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he said, placing a kiss on the top of her head.

“Well one of us needs to keep a cool head sometimes,” she chuckled, “and anyway you need to look on the bright side, your sister’s okay, jewellery are just items and can be replaced, luckily this asshole didn’t harm your sister or anyone else.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Neil replied.

“Of course I am,” Claire stayed looking up at her boyfriend, “I’m always right,” Neil smiled back down at her before letting her go.

“You can go and let the rest of the residents know that I won’t go in and bite their heads off now,” Neil said, “although I’m already sure they know that as they have been watching us this whole time,” Claire turned to look at the door and saw the other three quickly scurry away and back to the table. She laughed before putting her arms around Neil’s waist and kissing his neck.

“I love you,” she said into his neck.

“I love you too,” he replied and she let go of him, walking back into the office and leaving him on the balcony.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a fic I did based off of a prompt word on my alphabet series. I hope you all liked it!
> 
> Let me know if you'd like me to turn this into a multi-chaptered thing.


End file.
